Dark Ambient Fans’ One-stop News Site
This Is Darkness is a site for dark ambient fans. On This Is Darkness you will find a variety of features which should be of interest to fans of dark ambient music. This includes news, reviews, interviews, and mixes.

This is Darkness Presents Vol.1 Dark Ambient
This Is Darkness is very proud to present to you the first of our compilations.
66 exclusive tracks, coming in at 7+ hours of music. “name your price”!

Algernon Blackwood – The Willows (1907) Full Novella Text

Here’s something a bit different. I’ve published the full text of the classic weird fiction novella ‘The Willows’, along with a mix which was inspired by, and meant to be played while reading the novella.
Author: Algernon Blackwood
Title: The Willows (1907)
H.P. Lovecraft said of ‘The Willows’:
“Here art and restraint in narrative reach their very highest development, and an impression of lasting poignancy is produced without a single strained passage or a single false note”.Read the novella and listen to the mix here.

Halloween Horror Ambient Mix – 2018A mix of the creepiest dark ambient tracks I could compile! A blend of brand new tracks with some classics intertwined. Perfect for a solitary night of reading horror fiction or scaring the trick or treaters. Over two hours of seamlessly mixed darkness! Enjoy!Listen to the mix here.

Devil’s Night Seamless Mix – Post-Industrial Aural AssaultThe Devil’s Night Mix was inspired by my interest in ‘Devil’s Night’ on the 30th of October, which has long been a dreaded celebration in Detroit, among other places in the United States. This mix is a combination of some harsher dark ambient along with a blend of post-industrial devastation.Listen to the mix here.

Sysselmann – Live at Mir – Review and Exclusive Full Album Stream!Sysselmann is back! This time with a live album recorded in Oslo during October of 2017. Check out the album which includes three new tracks along with some great ones from The Northern Chronicles!Check it out here.

Bonedust – New Album Streaming In Full!Be the first to hear this devastating debut from Bonedust entitled Fruit of the Ash. Just released on the Annihilvs record label, Bonedust presents a brilliant array of sounds from beautiful choral melodies to blistering eruptions of doom-laden violence. Check out the full stream now!Listen here.

Martin Bladh – Marty Page – Book ReviewCheck out our review of the latest book by Martin Bladh, this time released through Amphetamine Sulphate. Read the review here.
We have also published a 90 minute seamless mix inspired by the book, which you can listen to here.

Ruptured World – InterviewFrom the first seconds of Exoplanetary, the new Cryo Chamber release by Ruptured World, I knew this was going to be a unique and incredibly entertaining album. I was not wrong. As I found out more about the man behind the project, its breadth and attention to detail became more understandable.
Read the interview here.

David Lynch – Nudes – ArtBook ReviewNudes has a specific focus. Nudes gives us a large collection of David Lynch‘s photography of the nude female body. With that said, many are likely to find little sexual nature in Nudes. Of course, the nude female body will likely draw some level of sexual attraction from people, but it certainly isn’t the focus. The feminine form and the integrity of the models are well honored here. This is not pornography, soft-core or otherwise. This is dark art. The darkness here really can’t be overstated. It is one of the main features of the collection. It is as prevalent as the female body itself, if not even more so.
Read the review here.

Artaud 1937 Apocalypse – Letters from Ireland by Antonin Artaud – Book ReviewArtaud 1937 Apocalypse publishes the letters Antonin Artaud sent to several of his correspondents during the period in 1937 when Artaud was visiting Ireland. Artaud left Paris for the island of Inishmore off the western coast of Ireland, then proceeded on to Galway and Dublin. During this time, Artaud sent a number of intriguing letters to a select few of his friends and correspondents. In these letters Artaud gives their recipients a general outline of his new purpose in life, and his reason for traveling to Ireland. The disturbing content of these letters is the body of and inspiration for this book, which is now able to be utilized by a much greater audience, as it has recently entered the public domain.
Read the review here.

Room to Dream – David Lynch [semi-auto]Biography – Book ReviewIn our dark ambient community there should be few people unfamiliar with the name David Lynch. The soundtrack to Eraserhead is still wildly popular 41 years later, with a recent re-issue selling out in no time. The Eraserhead soundtrack is a testament to Lynch’s natural understanding of dark ambient atmospherics. These rich textures and layers of drone, wind, and industrial noise evoke a dark vision of the not so distant past and, on an emotional level, a sense of claustrophobia and social anxiety.
Read the review here.

Terence Hannum– All Internal – Book ReviewAll Internal is a quick and enjoyable read. One that you could knock out rather quickly, if the story so engrosses you. I found my playlist of dark ambient awaiting review was the perfect accompaniment to this story, at certain times playing things on one end of the spectrum, but as the story took twists, I was adjusting the music’s themes accordingly. An all around enjoyable experience. I’m definitely hoping Hannum does more future work in this vein!
Read the review here.

Mortiis (Era 1 focused) – Interview and Book ReviewMortiis is hailed by many/most as one of the greatest originators of the now greatly expanding dungeon synth genre. His Era 1 releases considered classics, and highly sought out by the dungeon synth community, as well as by fans of the Cold Meat Industry label, in general, which was home to Mortiis Era 1. With a new round of concerts featuring Era 1 material, a re-issue of his book ‘Secrets of My Kingdom’, and re-issues of all many Era 1 albums, it seemed like a great time to have a conversation with the man behind Mortiis and pick his mind about the new book, his re-emergence within the Era 1 context, the Cold Meat Industry 25th anniversary festival and more!
Read the interview here and the book review here.

Teahouse Radio / Hypnagoga Press – InterviewOver the last few years we’ve seen a huge increase in the output of Pär Boström. Once known only for his oldest (main?) project, Kammarheit, Pär Boström has since created a multitude of wonderful albums, always more or less focused on dark ambient, as Cities Last Broadcast, Altarmang, Bonini Bulga, and now his latest project Teahouse Radio. Near the beginning of this recent bloom in releases, he partnered up with his sister, Åsa Boström, to start the publishing house/record label Hypnagoga Press, as well as collaborate on their first release as Hymnambulae. After my previous interview with them in 2016, not long before I started This Is Darkness, I thought it was time to catch up with the siblings and find out from Pär about the new Teahouse Radio album, and to get some general clairvoyance on the label and future releases from Åsa.

Ruptured World – InterviewFrom the first seconds of Exoplanetary, the new Cryo Chamber release by Ruptured World, I knew this was going to be a unique and incredibly entertaining album. I was not wrong. As I found out more about the man behind the project, its breadth and attention to detail became more understandable.
Read the interview here.

Mortiis (Era 1 focused) – InterviewMortiis is hailed by many/most as one of the greatest originators of the now greatly expanding dungeon synth genre. His Era 1 releases considered classics, and highly sought out by the dungeon synth community, as well as by fans of the Cold Meat Industry label, in general, which was home to Mortiis Era 1. With a new round of concerts featuring Era 1 material, a re-issue of his book ‘Secrets of My Kingdom’, and re-issues of all many Era 1 albums, it seemed like a great time to have a conversation with the man behind Mortiis and pick his mind about the new book, his re-emergence within the Era 1 context, the Cold Meat Industry 25th anniversary festival and more!
Read the interview here.

Teahouse Radio / Hypnagoga Press – InterviewOver the last few years we’ve seen a huge increase in the output of Pär Boström. Once known only for his oldest (main?) project, Kammarheit, Pär Boström has since created a multitude of wonderful albums, always more or less focused on dark ambient, as Cities Last Broadcast, Altarmang, Bonini Bulga, and now his latest project Teahouse Radio. Near the beginning of this recent bloom in releases, he partnered up with his sister, Åsa Boström, to start the publishing house/record label Hypnagoga Press, as well as collaborate on their first release as Hymnambulae. After my previous interview with them in 2016, not long before I started This Is Darkness, I thought it was time to catch up with the siblings and find out from Pär about the new Teahouse Radio album, and to get some general clairvoyance on the label and future releases from Åsa.Read the interview here.

Matteo Brusa (Medhelan/La Tredicesima Luna) – InterviewMatteo Brusa is the man behind the dungeon synth project, Medhelan, and the dark ambient project, La Tredicesima Luna. Hailing from northern Italy, Brusa’s cultural and geographical histories have played a big part in his identity as a musician. I was able to pick Brusa’s mind for this quite extensive interview, which will look into the background of the man, as well as the beginning and future of his musical projects.
Read the interview here.

Nhor – Interview2017 was an interesting and eventful year for the UK project Nhor. He pushed the atmospheric element for his approach to its minimalist limit, which resulted in a quadrilogy of EPs that formed the Wildflowers cycle. Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter shed light on aspects of their respective seasons not often explored in any art-form — let alone through piano ambient music. As this portion of Nhor’s existence closes out, the artist was kind enough to sit down and give some insight into the creative process, hidden meanings and personal significance of Wildflowers.
Read the interview here.

There will also be other features that cater to the interests of dark ambient fans. There will be articles focusing on horror themes, post-apocalyptic themes, sci-fi themes, and the like. This Is Darkness will soon include short stories and poetry for the dark ambient listener. The themes of these will be wide ranging, but always focused on the interests of the dark ambient listener.

Background
Dark ambient is a tiny genre in comparison to others. Fans of dark ambient can find it hard to learn more about the happenings of the genre, since it is rarely covered by major webzines, magazines, and television music stations. With this in mind, This Is Darkness will attempt to fill this void. By providing fans with a weekly news summary of upcoming releases, concert coverage, and general news worthy topics, we will give fans a one-stop fix for their dark ambient appetites.

Critiques
In the formative months of This Is Darkness it will be extremely helpful for us to recieve any suggestions or critiques that readers may have to offer. If there is something you want to see here, please let us know, we may just add that feature!

Submissions
If you are interested in making a submission to This Is Darkness, please feel free to contact us at the following address: info@ThisIsDarkness.com

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